The Giants are interested and have some money to spend, but the major question is how close will they come to the Yankees $140 Million offer. It's been a busy off-season for the Giants already, they've signed Jeremy Affeldt, Bob Howry, and Edgar Renteria.
And here's some more on this story from from Mark Feinsand:
Just how badly does CC Sabathia want to pitch at home in California? We may find out very soon.
Sources say the Giants are considering a play for Sabathia, although their only hope of landing the big lefthander would be for him to take an extreme hometown discount.
According to sources, the Giants are contemplating an offer of more than the $100 million the Brewers have bid for Sabathia for five years, but far less than the six years and $140 million the Yankees have offered.
Dan Graziano of The Star Ledger also says the Giants are ready to make an offer.
Feinsand, along with several other writers this morning continue to report that the Angels have backed out of the Sabathia sweepstakes. So as of now it's just the Yankees, Brewers and now possibly the Giants in the mix.
UPDATE 8:15 p.m.: Giants GM Brian Sabean spoke with Andrew Baggarly of The Mercury News and " laid out his thoughts for the winter meetings." Here's some of what he had to say:
It's really starting to look like that $140 million offer has scared a lot of teams out of this. Early today it was the Angels, now apparently the Giants don't want to swim "with the sharks" either.–The Giants haven’t made an offer to CC Sabathia or Mark Teixeira, and without getting into specifics on either player, Sabean downplayed the Giants’ participation.
“It’s a fluid situation but it’s not proactive,” said Sabean, when asked in general about committing to a $100 million-plus free agent. “We’re not out there swimming with the sharks. There are too many teams with more seemingly to offer financially than where we’re at right now.”
7 Comments:
I don't like the Brewers for this one either. He either takes the money or plays close to home. I still think he takes the money.
So do I. I can't imagine a player leaving $20-$30 million on the table.
I think he stays home. I'm of the opinion that players want less and less to play for the Yankees, mostl due to the media and fan scrutiny. Face it, if he had one bad start here the fans would boo him mercilessly, the way they boo A-Rod after one bad at-bat. People say NYY fans are some of the smartest, and I say they are some of the most spoiled, and entitled.
Besides, he wants to stay in the NL, particularly in the West, where he will most certainly dominate inferior lineups (certainly compared to the AL East) and where he can hit. If the Giants offer is within 20-25 mil I think he signs there, and honestly I wouldn't blame him.
You know first and foremost I don't buy into this endless stream of speculation from the fan base, and the blogosphere in general. No one from the CC camp, meaning CC and or his agent, have said that he prefers West coast NL over East coast AL. In fact he has spent his entire career playing for an AL team with the exception of 3 months in no mans land, AKA Wisconsin.
Secondly the union would have a major problem with CC leaving 20-30 million dollars on the table. Remember when A-Rod wanted out of Texas in the worst way and was willing to make about 30 million dollars in contract concessions to get it done. The MLBPA but the kabosh on that. He will be under tremendous pressure to take the money.
If CC wants to go to San Fran, where every year you're guaranteed to be on a losing team, where his run support will be like 2 runs per game, and where you'll be fighting every year not for the playoffs, but to see if you can get to .500, then let him go be a loser there. To heck with someone that isn't interseted in playing for the MLB team most dedicated to winning, it says a lot about their mental makeup.
I think acquiring C.C. would be great for the Giants. Now assuming Zito decides to pull his head out his butt sometime soon, their starting rotation would be amazing. I mean, lincecum, C.C., zito, cain, sanchez....Plus there's room for more talent like Bumgardner who is supposed to come up in 2010 (hopefully end of 2009 season).
Obviously there is the need to build their offense; however, they've already made a good deal by getting Renteria. Yeah his stats weren't great last year, but if you look at how he has performed in the NL league with the cardinals and braves, he has the upper hand here with the Giants. I'm guessing he'd be placed in the meat of the lineup in front or behind sandoval, which leads me to my next subject. Pablo sandoval was nothing but clutch last year. Just imagine a whole year performance, along with that chemistry he has with Molina. This next year will give those young players like Burriss, Ishikawa, and Lewis also time to develop. We also got rid of Omar, and the chances of Aurilia coming back are slim. I definitely anticipate a better year for the Giants.
I won't lie though, being a homer, I would love the idea of having 3 Cy Young award winners in my starting lineup. All are young, and under their contracts they'll spend the rest of their youth here in SF. I am ready for a winning season!
Yanks can use that $140-150million elsewhere if CC decides against them. It may be what the yankees need, use the cash or spread it around to get 2 other free agents.
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